WATCHMEN Shows Weakness

Warner Bros. took a gamble making the vile $150 million R-rated WATCHMEN.

On opening weekend it grossed nearly $55 million, which is quite respectable for the average movie. However, a closer look reveals weakness.

The director, Zack Snyder’s, previous hit, 300, opened at $70.9 million. Paramount’s $140 million IRON MAN, with a PG-13 rating, brought in $99 million opening weekend and went on to make $318 in domestic box office. Warner Bros.’ PG-13 blockbuster, THE DARK NIGHT, made $158 million opening weekend and was 2008’s box office leader with $533 in domestic box office.

Warner Bros. own exit polling showed that 65 percent of the audience for WATCHMEN was male. THE DARK KNIGHT’s opening weekend came in at a much healthier 52 percent male.

WATCHMEN is not the kind of movie most couples would want to see on a date and it is clearly not something parents would ever dream of taking the family to. You can expect the hard-core pornographic WATCHMEN to fade more rapidly than your average comic superhero movie because it is aimed at a much smaller demographic.

Like its predecessor, the over-rated comic book by left-wing anarchist Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, the movie is a boring pastiche of less than inspiring characters, couched in a pretentious, nihilistic story.

The movie, however, is even more violent than the comic book. And, one of its sex scenes is especially graphic. Throughout most of the movie, one character walks around completely naked. The same thing happens in the comic book, but the movie is much more explicit.

WATCHMEN is not a movie for children or teenagers. And, most adults will not want to see it either.